If you want serious bloom for your buck this Spring and Summer, you’ll want to add these beauties to your landscape this year. I’m admittedly a lazy gardener. I want to buy some plants, throw them in the ground, and enjoy pretty flowers all season. That’s just what you’ll get with these long blooming flowers that’ll give you color for months!
Long blooming flowers include Hydrangeas, Dianthus, and Roses just to name a few. There are choices that love shade, sun, and in between.
There aren’t many flowers I don’t love. Especially when I can get them for cheap at any garden store, mix in some potting soil and call it good. If it requires a lot of nurturing, it’s not a good match for me and my lazy gardening skills.
These are some of my favorite ways to add months of color to my yard each year. Bonus points if I can cut them and add fresh flowers to my house.
Keep in mind – I live in the South so we have a long period of hot weather and minimal times of freezing. Always check your planting zones to see if you’re choosing a good flower for your area.
Impatiens
These are some of my absolute favorite flowers. Impatiens come in a variety of colors from red, orange, pink, white, and purple and they are cheap!
And I’ve found that as long as you keep them watered, they’re happy. Impatiens do best in shadier areas where they aren’t blasted by the sun all day. They look pretty sad if they’re dry, but you can pep them right up with a good drink.
You can pick up several small plants from the garden store and space them at least 6 inches apart. I plant mine close together so they form a thick row of colorful flowers. They are annuals though, so you’ll have to replace them year after year.
Zinnias
Zinnias are one of the best plants I’ve added to my landscaping. They aren’t technically perennials as the whole plant dies each year, but they often re-seed and you get return plants the next year. They come in vivid hues of red, orange, yellow, purple, and pink.
My favorite thing about Zinnias is that they attract butterflies and hummingbirds. And I’ve found they are very forgiving. These are my set it and forget it plants. They bloom so much that you can clip little stems all summer and add them to the house. See if your planting zone is right for Zinnias here.
Hydrangeas
You can’t go wrong with Hydrangeas. They produce the most beautiful, huge blooms and tons of them. I clip Hydrangea blooms all summer to bring inside for decorating. There are pink, purple, blue, and white.
The ones above are Vanilla Strawberry variety – However, mine only show the “strawberry” hue for a short while. But they have the largest and showiest blooms.
I’ve planted different varieties of Hydrangeas in the yard and the ones with partial sun/shade do the best. Full sun tends to scorch them so find a shady spot and plant away. They’re perennials so you can plant once and enjoy for years!
Calibrachoa
Last year was my first experience with Calibrachoa and they’ll be a staple in my landscaping from now on! I used a few for hanging baskets on my front porch – they make excellent container plants for full sun areas!
I also added a few to my back patio in large pots and they flowered from May all the way until December! I joked to my husband that they would never die!
They come in beautiful shades of pink, purple, and yellow. They have beautiful trailing stems and you do need to feed them a few times (if you notice yellowing of the leaves, they need some fertilizer).
Water Calibrachoa daily especially in the summer and you’ll have amazing blooms for months. These are annuals so you’ll need to replace them year after year.
Marigolds
Marigolds are another favorite around here because they love the heat. These annuals come in vibrant orange, red, and yellow and you can pick these up for a few bucks at the garden store.
They don’t get very tall either so they make an excellent choice as a border plant. You’ll get more blooms if you deadhead or pinch off the old blooms. Marigolds are perfect for a planting garden with several varieties and shades of flowers.
Vinca
You’ll get tons of pink, purple, or white flowers all season with Vincas. These are perfect for surrounding a mailbox area, a planting garden, or any other area you want continuous color.
In some planting zones, they’re perennials, and I’ve had a few of these that returned each year. They can survive drought conditions and heat so they make great choices in the South.
Coneflower
Coneflowers are another ideal plant for continuous color. Stunning drooping petals with large blooms. These are daisy like flowers that are perennials – you’ll get color every year. Bonus points because they attract butterflies and are also deer resistant.
Knock Out Roses
Roses are typically not considered a lazy gardener’s ideal plant. But along came Knock Out Roses and that changed everything. We received several tiny rose plants in little plastic cups from a friend.
We planted them in various places in the yard and in no time, we had huge plants that bloom like crazy! To me, they aren’t as elegant as regular roses, but they require very little effort. You can trim them back and they will grow even fuller. I get roses until December from these plants!
Dianthus
Dianthus is one of my all-time favorite long blooming flowers. We’ve got two of these plants and every year, we trim them to the ground and they come back full and gorgeous. It has continuous flowers for months and lots of them!
The variety I have is “Paint the Town Fuschia”. And the best part about this one is it’s deer resistant! Keep it watered, fertilize here and there and they love afternoon sun.
There are so many choices of long blooming flowers you can use for your yard to get months of blooms and it won’t cost you a fortune!
